"Kuwait dismisses report of lax airport security"

Saturday, July 10, 2004

Kuwait dismisses report of lax airport security  


KUWAIT (Reuters) - Security officials on Saturday downplayed a newspaper
report alleging lax security at Kuwait International Airport after a British
reporter took a knife aboard a British Airways flight. 

"This is an individual incident and does not mean we have lax security," a
senior Kuwait security official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. 

"We are not introducing any new security measures because the measures are
there already. However, we will hold accountable anyone not doing his duty.
They will be punished." 

The Sun tabloid on Friday said one of its reporters boarded a flight on
Wednesday from Kuwait to London's Heathrow with an eight-inch dagger in his
hand luggage. 

The journalist was photographed carrying the hunting knife while sitting in
the British Airways business section. 

"Checks at Kuwait City airport were so lax our team was able to sit with the
weapon yards from the cockpit," The Sun reported. 

"Our bag sailed through two X-ray machines without raising the alarm on the
way to the departure lounge for BA flight 156," the newspaper said. 

Kuwaiti newspapers on Saturday quoted a BA spokeswoman as saying the
airliner had opened an investigation and asked Kuwaiti authorities to review
security procedures at the airport, 25 km (15 miles) south of the capital. 

Leading daily al-Qabas also quoted Yacoub al-Saqer, head of the state-run
Directorate of Civil Aviation, as saying security at the airport "is in line
with international standards". 

The oil-rich Gulf Arab state stepped up security in recent months because of
spiralling violence in Iraq and an increase in militant attacks in its other
neighbour Saudi Arabia.


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